Ancient earthworks in southern Ohio is program topic

BELLEFONTAINE – The Logan County Land Trust and the Logan County Historical Society will host a presentation on Ohio archaeology on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Logan County Historical Society, 521 E. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine.

The event begins with a meet and greet at 6 p.m. Dr. Jarrod Burks, president of the Heartlands Earthworks Conservancy, at 6:30 p.m. will discuss “Advancing the Preservation of Ancient Earthworks in Southern Ohio.”

A profusion of mysterious earth enclosures is clustered in southern Ohio. Two-thousand years ago, southern Ohio was the center of a highly sophisticated culture whose leaders had a command of mathematics and astronomy. During a golden age of cultural development that lasted hundreds of years, great numbers of Native Americans from far and wide gathered in peace here to build enormous ceremonial complexes. Many of these sacred sites are precise in their geometry and have alignments to the solstices and the complicated movements of the moon.

These sacred complexes remained respected places among later cultures of Native Americans for two millennia. Unfortunately, many of these ancient earthworks have been nearly erased by modern development. Although many embankment walls once stood over 10 feet and extended for miles, most are now barely visible to the unaided eye.

Advances in technology allow archaeologists to detect the foundations of these structures underground without excavating. Today’s no-till farming practices rarely do further harm to earthworks, but development and construction destroy the foundations of the largest earthworks.

Burks will also comment on the Mission of the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy and the measures that can be taken toward preservation.